"Recovery gave me more than sobriety; it gave me my life."

Paris W. | Aegis Treatment Centers, Bakersfield

For about four to five years, I was deep in addiction and homelessness. I slept behind stores, lost everything I owned (more than once), and lived day-to-day just trying to survive. Winter nights were brutal, and there were many times I didn’t believe my life would ever improve. Drugs and alcohol controlled every part of my existence, and I stopped imagining a future for myself.

Everything began to shift when I got my dog, Sisko. Before him, I didn’t care if I lived or died. But he depended on me, and that gave me something I hadn’t had in a long time: responsibility, love, and a reason to stay alive. Even when I couldn’t take care of myself, I tried to take care of him.

I tried many times to get clean on my own, but it never lasted. It wasn’t until I accepted professional help and entered detox that real change began. Coming off fentanyl was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I held on to the belief that I couldn’t go back to the life I had been living.

My early recovery wasn’t easy. I experienced rejection, relapse, and environments where I didn’t feel safe being myself as a queer person. At times, that pushed me back into using. But I kept reaching out, and eventually I found people who didn’t give up on me, even when I was struggling.